3 Responses to O Sacred Lord of Israel

Very interesting angels. I noticed you did the “qui” differently in this translation than the last. That’s been a quibbling point in the translation wars, as it’s perhaps more accurate to the Latin to translate it as “who”, where ICEL tends to use “you”. For example:

“Father, you something or other.”

Where the Latin may read, “Lord, who something or other.”

Which would you tend to prefer and why? I don’t know which I prefer… Using “who” is closer to the Latin, and in English is usually used as an identifier. “You” kind of strikes me as giving God a reminder of what He is and what He did. Neither one is at all natural to us American English speakers, we don’t list someone’s attributes when addressing them: “Todd, you have a blog, you live in Iowa. Respond to my question.” Or maybe there’s a better way?

If I were just writing something out for a translation, I’d probably use “you who”, but I think that works even worse for prayer.

Gavin, thanks for asking. I think I picked up the translations off wikipedia. I confess I wasn’t too careful about where I got them, and I certainly didn’t translate them myself.

I think the hang-up on “you” is a conservative/traditionalist indulgence. The psalmist certainly has no problem using the songs of temple worship to recount God’s historical deeds on behalf of the Jewish people. If that were not true, the 104th, the 136th and many others would have just abbreviated the praise of God and footnoted into the historical books. That the citation of the deeds of God is also found in New Testament hymns would seem to show this is a non-issue cooked up by bored reform2 advocates — especially ones who lack a Biblical foundation in liturgy.

about Todd Flowerday

A Roman Catholic lay person, married (since 1996), with one adopted child (since 2001). I serve in worship and spiritual life in a midwestern university parish.

about John Donaghy

John is a lay missionary since 2007 with a parish in western Honduras. Before that he served in campus ministry and social justice ministry in Iowa. His ministry blog is http://hermanojuancito.blogspot.com

He also blogs reflections on the lectionary and saints/heroes/events of the date at http://walktheway.wordpress.com

He'll be a long-term contributor here analyzing the Latin American bishops' document from their 2007 Aparecida Conference.